Random Hobbies/Collections

[Captainkirk]

C'mon, we know you have other hobbies. Feel free to share (unless it's something embarrassing like knitting)
You might be surprised at how many others share the same interest!

[Longtrad]

Hobbies? you mean a man needs more hobbies that shooting the bow and drinking coffee?....Man I used to have a lot more! the old stick and string killed off a lot of them though

Some I still enjoy are: fishing, cooking, stone artifacts and stone cultures, but also old european history, especially the early middle ages! 22 rifles to a degree, traveling, hiking, going to concerts, been a while since my last one but I love live music, I had tickets for red hot chili peppers last march but had a work emergency and ended not going... thinking back on it I don;t know how I got suckered into that.


some that archery or maybe just getting older killed off are: firearms! I used to be a big enthusiast, not so much anymore, bass guitar,fencing, video games, riding dirt bikes and four wheelers.... idk drawing a blank

[Captainkirk]

Hobbies? you mean a man needs more hobbies that shooting the bow and drinking coffee?....Man I used to have a lot more! the old stick and string killed off a lot of them though

Some I still enjoy are: fishing, cooking, stone artifacts and stone cultures, but also old european history, especially the early middle ages! 22 rifles to a degree, traveling, hiking, going to concerts, been a while since my last one but I love live music, I had tickets for red hot chili peppers last march but had a work emergency and ended not going... thinking back on it I don;t know how I got suckered into that.


some that archery or maybe just getting older killed off are: firearms! I used to be a big enthusiast, not so much anymore, bass guitar,fencing, video games, riding dirt bikes and four wheelers.... idk drawing a blank

Don't tease us! Get to posting on them! Me; I have more hobbies than Carter's has little pills! And I'll get to sharing them with you sooner or later. But heck, don't wait for me. Get to posting about them 'cuz inquiring minds want to know! (Fencing? I wanna know more, dammit!)
Guns? Heck, I made a section just for you! (Gu..gu..guns) Go for it!

[Crazynate]

I am an avid fisherman. Being up here by the Great Lakes our tributaries are full of salmon and steelhead each fall and spring. I am also a pretty obsessed bass fisherman. Other than that archery is my number 1. Collecting, shooting and building custom arrows keeps me real busy.

[Shadowhntr]

Yes, there are bigger fish out there...ive caught big fish most all my life so I know what it feels like....

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However....sometimes it's not about size, but about other reasons which can be a multitude. For instance the challenge of it, and or the tasty end results!
Few in these parts know the differences in the sunfish family. Most folks here recognize bluegill and other smaller sunfish and just refer to them all as "brim" or "perch" ...AND they have zero interest in them because their tendency to run smallish. Those who actually know what a perch is, or what fish there are in the perch family, know there is a huge difference between sunfish and perch. Our perch here consist of darters, sauger, walleye and hybrids, a very limited population of yellows. The dreaded invasive white perch is actually a true bass and related to white bass. Some fish in the sunfish family that people often do not realize are sunfish are... largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass (all black bass)... and white and black crappie as well. Some sunfish certainly are really too small to mess with in general, like the gorgeous orange spotted sunfish, our most common of the family here in Kansas, but its rarely caught and rarely exceeds 4".

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However some smaller sunfish can certainly hit eatable sizes and most recognize the bluegill, bluegill hybrids, and green sunfish. Most of these fish are considered a nuisance by anglers who are after other species, but most anglers also understand the need for them. Most anglers do not consider these fish any kind of challenge to locate and catch, although I submit that outsized 'gills 9"+ are not easy to come by excluding hybrid varieties.
Let me also submit there is another larger species that are MUCH harder to locate, and certainly give many many angler fits trying to figure out how to catch them. He is the Redear Sunfish or in some parts simply "shellcracker". In our parts, i've taken them up to almost 12" long (11 3/4") weighing a full pound but 9" is common. These fish are MUCH thicker fish then bluegill are, making them even better for the thicker slabs of meat. They get much larger elswhere in the U.S.
If you think you can just approach these fish as if you are after run of the meal bluegills...you are in for a shock. Anyone can catch one on any given day esp when spawn is on, but to consistently target them through the season, esp big mature fish, takes a good amount of knowledge about the species. In short...they are anything but easy....at least until you figure them out.
I've been on a good pattern lately and my family's tummys are grateful for the delicacy. If you have never sought these fish, and have them available, you are missing out on some mighty fun and challenging angling guaranteed to stretch your ultralights line, as well as top notch table fare.
Here are pics of a recent average 9" fish, and a slab sided 11" fish.
9"

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11"

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[Graps]

You mean something like this ?

[Captainkirk]

You mean something like this ?

Exactly!

[White Falcon]

Or this!

[Graps]

Nice looking wing bone calls.

[White Falcon]

Thanks! Some I color the fearhers.